European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 21, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The officer s wife a smiling White gloved spouse who pours at the wives club teas entertains her husband s colleagues leads in Community and Volunteer projects. That definition May have fit in the past. Today the White gloves Are gone. There Are still teas and coffees dinner parties and Volunteer work. But for Many wives these Are secondary. They hold full time jobs or have other interests. Our series looks at officers wives and their changing roles today their careers club activities responsibilities As women married to senior military men and the training they receive to meet these responsibilities. Members of the Heidelberg officers and civilians women s club practice greeting etiquette. To work or not to works a Steve Morrison the changing scene by Rosemary Sawyer staff writer in recent months High level defens department officials have promised today officer s wife Freedom to play whatever role she like in her husband s trek to four stardom. However while some wives in Europe applaud the heralds of Freedom others remain sceptical. They claim that although the military s new policies can t Hurt they re unlikely to change old school commanders and their wives who contend that behind every Good officer stands a very Busy wife. When my husband commanded on the battalion level the brigade level commander s wife called me one time said an army colonel s wife in West Germany who asked that her name not be used her husband was doing efficiency reports and she wanted to know about such a wife and such a  when asked Why the brigade commander s wife replied Well i never see them at anything they never sign up for anything the woman recounted. I really got scared. It scared me because if he would do this with captains what is he going to do to me to  the woman with 19 years behind her As an army wife said fortunately most officers wives today never will encounter such a commander s wife whom she labelled an  even in 1989 such horror stories occasionally surface but for every Strong arming mrs colonel incident there Are stories of women who hurdles All obstacles be they real or perceived to pursue their goals. If you have a husband who s supportive of your having a career the sky s the limit said Joyce Fields a major s wife who is the family support services chief in Schweinfurt West Germany. We have not had the experience where anybody in the army has said to my husband your wife needs to be at Home. Why in t she at coffees " the Issue of spouses Freedom came under scrutiny in 1987, when the air Force formed a Blue ribbon panel in the United states to investigate charges by wives that commanding officers had tried to get them to quit their jobs to spend More time in base functions. The resulting air Force policy announced last March backs the spouse s Choice to pursue employment be a homemaker attend school or serve As a Volunteer. The Navy and army followed suit with similar policies. Shirley eanes a senior officer s wife from Heidelberg West Germany said More and More officers wives Are choosing employment. There Are even generals wives who work eanes said. It s not unusual anymore. A lot of our society follows civilian society. We re not really that  Paola Harrell is such a general s wife. The second Grade teacher at Frankfurt s Atterberry elementary school in West Germany said she s worked for almost 18 of her husband s 26 army years without a Snag. Harrell who is married to a one Star general sought outside employment because she was bored with the women s gatherings. I did t have children at the time and i did t want to sit around and talk about washing machines diapers and things like that so i went and got a Job Harrell said. I solved my problem and i was a rarity. I was the Only one. I was very visible. I can t fathom anybody else not solving their own  Many wives who have problems allow them to happen by not asserting themselves and going ahead to pursue their goals Harrell said. Another army wife said it s not always that simple. Her husband a battalion executive officer yielding to pressure from his Boss asked her to quit her Job to spend More time in charitable and social activities at the base. The woman who asked for anonymity fearing a negative reaction from the Community and battalion gave in to her husband s request. Four Boring months later her husband s commander and his wife were reassigned allowing her to go Back to work. If her husband again were to ask her to resign she d refuse she said. But she does t expect that to be a problem. He s Learned from this she said. He won t do it again if i can fulfil my obligations and  the military has made a wife s decision to work outside the Home unnecessarily complicated said another army wife. It should not be an Issue. It s an Issue Between them the husband and wife said the woman who continued on Page 14 tuesday february 21, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 13